China Glaze Cracked Medallion Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have another China Glaze Metal Crackle on tap for today, this time Cracked Medallion, the bronze.  I was looking at what I'd like to pair it with, and I thought it might look cool with the glitter in OPI Merry Midnight.

Merry Midnight is a three coater, so I put that on and figured I'd take a new picture of it while it was drying.

OPI Merry Midnight Nail Polish, Three Coats

The addition of one coat of Cracked Medallion changed it a lot.

China Glaze Crackled Medallion Crackle Glaze over OPI Merry Midnight

On a sunny day, this is a good manicure to be wearing.  That's it for today, so until next time love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Cracked Medallion Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have another China Glaze Metal Crackle on tap for today, this time Cracked Medallion, the bronze.  I was looking at what I'd like to pair it with, and I thought it might look cool with the glitter in OPI Merry Midnight.

Merry Midnight is a three coater, so I put that on and figured I'd take a new picture of it while it was drying.

OPI Merry Midnight Nail Polish, Three Coats

The addition of one coat of Cracked Medallion changed it a lot.

China Glaze Crackled Medallion Crackle Glaze over OPI Merry Midnight

On a sunny day, this is a good manicure to be wearing.  That's it for today, so until next time love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was looking at what to add to yesterday's Essie Trophy Wife to change it up a bit for another day, and decided to go with China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle Glaze, the gold from the Crackle Metals.  I'd narrowed it down to Tarnished Gold and Cracked Medallion, the bronze, but decided that Cracked Medallion might be a bit much and went with the gold.

I just used one quick coat of Tarnished Gold over Trophy Wife and added a coat of top coat to seal it, and I'd revived it for a new day.

China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle Glaze

I like these two together and do think that Cracked Medallion would have been too much, so I'm pleased with the outcome.  That's all there is to tell you about today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was looking at what to add to yesterday's Essie Trophy Wife to change it up a bit for another day, and decided to go with China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle Glaze, the gold from the Crackle Metals.  I'd narrowed it down to Tarnished Gold and Cracked Medallion, the bronze, but decided that Cracked Medallion might be a bit much and went with the gold.

I just used one quick coat of Tarnished Gold over Trophy Wife and added a coat of top coat to seal it, and I'd revived it for a new day.

China Glaze Tarnished Gold Crackle Glaze

I like these two together and do think that Cracked Medallion would have been too much, so I'm pleased with the outcome.  That's all there is to tell you about today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Oxidized Aqua Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a picture I haven't shown you yet of China Glaze Oxidized Aqua from the Metal Crackles, so that'll have to do for today.  I wanted to try it out over a contrasting base color, so I picked OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries, and this is what I came up with.

China Glaze Oxidized Aqua Crackle over OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries

Not my worst, not my best... I do think Oxidized Aqua is pretty cool though.

I'll have to scamper off and come up with something better for tomorrow, so until then, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Oxidized Aqua Crackle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have a picture I haven't shown you yet of China Glaze Oxidized Aqua from the Metal Crackles, so that'll have to do for today.  I wanted to try it out over a contrasting base color, so I picked OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries, and this is what I came up with.

China Glaze Oxidized Aqua Crackle over OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries

Not my worst, not my best... I do think Oxidized Aqua is pretty cool though.

I'll have to scamper off and come up with something better for tomorrow, so until then, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Haute Metal over Hot Mess

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing China Glaze Haute Metal, the pink from the China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals I swatched for you yesterday.  I paired it with Man Glaze Hot Mess, which until I ran into it in my living room yesterday, I would have denied ever owning.  I just wandered around looking at some polishes I hadn't used in a while until I came across one that would go well with one of the Crackle Metals, and Hot Mess was the winner.

Hot Mess is a glittery whitish silver matte, and very pretty.  I used three coats over a completely dry base coat, and this is Hot Mess on its own.

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, No Top Coat

As you may recall, I recently discovered with OPI Turquoise Shatter that the crackling happened oddly over a matte with no top coat, so even though the surface of Man Glaze mattes feel more like powder than that weird rubbery feeling of many mattes, I top coated it.  That made it sparkle a bit more and gave it some depth.  I'd wear this one alone easily (I wish I'd known I had it sooner!).

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Top Coat

My original plan was to pair this with Oxidized Aqua, which I still think would look cool, but somehow the notion of Haute Metal, the pink, over this made me think "futuristic ice princess."  I don't know what that means either, but I ran with it.  I added Haute Metal and two coats of top coat to make it nice and glassy smooth.

China Glaze Haute Metal Crackle Glaze over Hot Mess

This one's odd and it's hard to see what's going on without looking carefully, but it's sparkly silver pink so I'm happy.  I like it a lot.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Haute Metal over Hot Mess

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing China Glaze Haute Metal, the pink from the China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals I swatched for you yesterday.  I paired it with Man Glaze Hot Mess, which until I ran into it in my living room yesterday, I would have denied ever owning.  I just wandered around looking at some polishes I hadn't used in a while until I came across one that would go well with one of the Crackle Metals, and Hot Mess was the winner.

Hot Mess is a glittery whitish silver matte, and very pretty.  I used three coats over a completely dry base coat, and this is Hot Mess on its own.

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, No Top Coat

As you may recall, I recently discovered with OPI Turquoise Shatter that the crackling happened oddly over a matte with no top coat, so even though the surface of Man Glaze mattes feel more like powder than that weird rubbery feeling of many mattes, I top coated it.  That made it sparkle a bit more and gave it some depth.  I'd wear this one alone easily (I wish I'd known I had it sooner!).

Man Glaze Hot Mess Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Top Coat

My original plan was to pair this with Oxidized Aqua, which I still think would look cool, but somehow the notion of Haute Metal, the pink, over this made me think "futuristic ice princess."  I don't know what that means either, but I ran with it.  I added Haute Metal and two coats of top coat to make it nice and glassy smooth.

China Glaze Haute Metal Crackle Glaze over Hot Mess

This one's odd and it's hard to see what's going on without looking carefully, but it's sparkly silver pink so I'm happy.  I like it a lot.

That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back much sooner than I'd planned because I have swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals to show you.  China Glaze sent them for review and they arrived this morning, and once the bottles had cooled down to room temperature, I got to swatching.

I used them all over a charcoal shimmer - I figured charcoal would let them show up well and show us their opacity, and I thought shimmer would work better with the almost-chrome finish of all six Crackle Glaze Metals.  I did just single nail swatches for this preliminary test drive and look at them - in addition to the fact that I was racing predicted storms for sunlight and didn't want to change lighting conditions halfway through, all six are gorgeous and I'd rather put a little more thought and effort into full manicures with them than just pairing them with charcoal.

Since I used three colors on each hand I split them up as I figured you'd want to see them, putting the true metallics (silver, gold, bronze) one one hand and the others (teal, pink, lavender) on the other so you can see how they look relative to one another.  They all have top coat, and this is in good sunlight.

First, we'll look at the true metals.  They are, from the top down, Cracked Medallion (bronze), Tarnished Gold (gold) and Platinum Pieces (silver).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round I

I think you can see how well these apply, and the application was  the same for all six shades in the collection.  The consistency of the polish is like normal polish, and so it was easy to apply a thin coat.  With crackles, I pay no attention to how even or opaque the crackle is during application - when it splits up, the pieces become much more opaque and things even out.  When applied, these looked somewhat sheer, but you can see that all three broke up beautifully and are opaque enough to completely cover the charcoal base between cracks.  Here's the same picture with the polish names added - I find labels on pictures can be distracting, so I figured I'd let you get a first impression without them and tack on the labelled version for reference.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round I

As for the colors, I really like them a lot.  I've always loved metals and chromes, but the fact is, a chrome finish isn't the most forgiving.  If there's one ridge in a nail, and I have many, a chrome finish pretty much places a neon sign flashing "RIDGES" on that nail.  These have the same overall effect as regular chromes without that shortcoming, and they are really solid renditions of each color.

For Round II, also from the top down, I have Oxidized Aqua (teal), Haute Metal (pink), and Latticed Lilac (lavender).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round II

Here, you can see that these three are as opaque as and broke up just as well as the first three, and the colors are stunning.  These three will require a little more thought to pair up with good bases.  Here's the labelled version of Round II.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round II

All six swatches have just the one coat of top coat, and you can see that the crackle layer isn't terribly thick, which is nice.  I'm a huge fan of this collection, and I'll be trying them out individually this week.

That's really all I have for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back much sooner than I'd planned because I have swatches of the upcoming China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals to show you.  China Glaze sent them for review and they arrived this morning, and once the bottles had cooled down to room temperature, I got to swatching.

I used them all over a charcoal shimmer - I figured charcoal would let them show up well and show us their opacity, and I thought shimmer would work better with the almost-chrome finish of all six Crackle Glaze Metals.  I did just single nail swatches for this preliminary test drive and look at them - in addition to the fact that I was racing predicted storms for sunlight and didn't want to change lighting conditions halfway through, all six are gorgeous and I'd rather put a little more thought and effort into full manicures with them than just pairing them with charcoal.

Since I used three colors on each hand I split them up as I figured you'd want to see them, putting the true metallics (silver, gold, bronze) one one hand and the others (teal, pink, lavender) on the other so you can see how they look relative to one another.  They all have top coat, and this is in good sunlight.

First, we'll look at the true metals.  They are, from the top down, Cracked Medallion (bronze), Tarnished Gold (gold) and Platinum Pieces (silver).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round I

I think you can see how well these apply, and the application was  the same for all six shades in the collection.  The consistency of the polish is like normal polish, and so it was easy to apply a thin coat.  With crackles, I pay no attention to how even or opaque the crackle is during application - when it splits up, the pieces become much more opaque and things even out.  When applied, these looked somewhat sheer, but you can see that all three broke up beautifully and are opaque enough to completely cover the charcoal base between cracks.  Here's the same picture with the polish names added - I find labels on pictures can be distracting, so I figured I'd let you get a first impression without them and tack on the labelled version for reference.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round I

As for the colors, I really like them a lot.  I've always loved metals and chromes, but the fact is, a chrome finish isn't the most forgiving.  If there's one ridge in a nail, and I have many, a chrome finish pretty much places a neon sign flashing "RIDGES" on that nail.  These have the same overall effect as regular chromes without that shortcoming, and they are really solid renditions of each color.

For Round II, also from the top down, I have Oxidized Aqua (teal), Haute Metal (pink), and Latticed Lilac (lavender).

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, Round II

Here, you can see that these three are as opaque as and broke up just as well as the first three, and the colors are stunning.  These three will require a little more thought to pair up with good bases.  Here's the labelled version of Round II.

China Glaze Crackle Glaze Metals Swatches, More Round II

All six swatches have just the one coat of top coat, and you can see that the crackle layer isn't terribly thick, which is nice.  I'm a huge fan of this collection, and I'll be trying them out individually this week.

That's really all I have for today, Dear Reader, so until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!